CALGARY – Bryan Caraway had to weather a first-round storm, but the payoff was there in the third.

Caraway survived a first-round offensive onslaught from Mitch Gagnon that may have tired the Canadian, then went on to submit him with a third-round rear-naked choke, stopping Gagnon from a win in his UFC debut.

The bantamweight bout was part of the preliminary card of Saturday’s UFC 149 event at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary. It aired on FX following additional prelims on Facebook and prior to the main card on pay-per-view.

Caraway opened the fight with a pair of looping left hooks, but Gagnon was able to win a scramble and get to top position on the ground, where he landed several big punches before falling into a Caraway armabar. He defended it, and from there, Gagnon landed some absolutely giant punches from a postured-up position.

Caraway appeared rocked, but was able to get back to his feet. The two battled back and forth in the latter part of the first frame before Caraway was able to mount and finish on top – perhaps a sign for the next two rounds that Gagnon may have punched himself out earlier in the round.

The second turned into a slugfest. But when Caraway slipped a guillotine attempt, he was able to take Gagnon’s back and worked ground-and-pound of his own. When Gagnon covered up, Caraway went for rear-naked choke attempts. Caraway controlled things on the ground for more than two minutes, scoring with little difficulty.

But in the third, Caraway looked the fresher fighter and 30 seconds into the round, he shot for a takedown, quickly took Gagnon’s back and worked punches until he covered up. Caraway was able to eventually sink in a tight rear-naked choke, and there was nothing Gagnon could do to peel it off.

“I thought he was going to get tired a lot sooner,” Caraway said. “He had better cardio than I thought, but I wore him down and knew he wasn’t going to last. My technique improved, and it showed. I’m happy I was able to finish him and get the win.”

Caraway (17-5 MMA, 2-0 UFC) won for the third straight time and second time in the UFC after winning his debut at the TUF 14 Finale in December. Gagnon (8-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) had won six straight – all by submission – before tapping to the “TUF 14″ vet.